Amarra 2.0 Playlist for Dummies Needed

[Opsman]

I recently installed Amarra 2.0 on my G5 running 10.5.8.

 

As suggested in the information about 2.0, playing music using the Amarra Playlist instead of iTunes yields better sound.

 

Can anyone explain why?

 

And, can anyone provide instructions for dummies about how to load, unload, and manage music using Playlist?

 

[Purite Audio]

Just highlight the tracks from itunes you want to load into playlst, click 'open files from itunes' and press play.

Keith.

 

[omasciarotte]

>As suggested in the information about 2.0, playing music using the

>Amarra Playlist instead of iTunes yields better sound.

>

>Can anyone explain why?

 

Hey Opsma,

 

Basically, the Playlist function allows Amarra to build a playlist in memory and orchestrate disk reads based on that playlist. My guess is even less CPU overhead for Amarra’s SSE, which would improve SQ.

 

>And, can anyone provide instructions for dummies about how to load,

>unload, and manage music using Playlist?

 

Sure…To make a playlist of files, first click on Amarra's PLAYLIST button. Both the PLAYLIST and TRACKS buttons will illuminate.

 

Then, from Amarra's Playlist menu, select Open Tracks Via Finder... and, using the resulting browser window, select one or more music files. The Open Tracks via iTunes command works in a similar way. Either way, the resulting dialog supports both the shift and command keys for making multiple selections.

 

Once you are done making your selection(s), click on the Open button to add the files to your playlist. Continue adding songs until you are satisfied with your playlist. Select File > Save Playlist... to save your playlist, giving it a meaningful name and saving it in a memorable location.

 

Now, to play your playlist, just click on Amarra's Play button. You can skip forward and back in the playlist by stopping playback and using the forward and back buttons. You can open existing playlists using the File > Open Playlist... command.

 

BTW, since iTunes does not natively handle FLAC files, and Amarra 2.0 is designed to support FLAC directly, playlists are a convenient way to group and play both your linear and lossless files. You can intermix linear (AIFF, WAV), lossless (ALAC, FLAC) and lossy files (MP3, AAC) all in the same playlist.

 

 

[Lars]

Is the FLAC support in Playlist limited to 16/44.1 files?

 

[omasciarotte]

Lars,

 

FLAC files are treated as are any other file type. So, for Amarra, sample rate detection and DAC switching is supported from 44.1 up to 192 kHz.

 

As always, this assumes that your DAC is capable. I've seen several Taiwanese USB DACs recently where the manufacturer claims 192 k operation but Audio MIDI Setup shows 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz only. Just to annoy further, they don't supply a Mac OS driver, which would enable 176.4 and 192 k operation.

 

[Audio_ELF]

As always, this assumes that your DAC is capable. I've seen several Taiwanese USB DACs recently where the manufacturer claims 192 k operation but Audio MIDI Setup shows 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz only. Just to annoy further, they don't supply a Mac OS driver, which would enable 176.4 and 192 k operation.

This is pretty common ... DACs which support 192k via SPDIF but not via USB, the advertising never worries to mention this fact.

 

Usually there is no Mac (or Windows driver) supplied because they are just using generic "USB Audio Device" compatible chips.

 

Eloise

 

[Lars]

Thanks for your reply about FLAC files Oliver.

 

[Opsman]

I appreciate your explanations about both items.